The potato could emerge as a serious player in the nutritional ingredients market and as a "far more sustainable" source of protein than many of its rivals, according to researchers gathered in Amsterdam for a seminar on the merits of vegetable vs animal protein.

The food industry should not raise expectations about the potential of nutrigenomics to improve public health before scientists have proved it can really deliver, the body co-ordinating research into the relationship between diet and gene expression has warned.

Food manufacturers that fail to embrace the principles of 'open innovation' by collaborating with external partners will be left behind in the new product development (NPD) stakes, Unilever has warned.

The first consignments of certified sustainable palm oil should hit Europe by the end of this year, according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Only a handful of foods, drinks and supplements that claim to arrest premature ageing of the skin are supported by sound clinical data, experts have claimed.

The marketing hype surrounding the vast majority of weight management ingredients "precedes or grossly outweighs the evidence" backing them, according to a leading scientist in the field.

Israeli firm Gadot has set up a joint venture with Jiangsu Nuobei Biochemical to build a new $30M citric acid plant in China.

Western Europe's functional soft drinks market grew by 6% in 2006 to 4.45bn litres, up 40% on the category's 3.17bn litres in 2001, according to drinks consultancy Zenith International.

Flavours firm Synergy has opened a new technical centre in Thailand to serve local markets and provide hands-on support to local customers in the region.

The environmental and social damage caused by biofuels could outweigh their benefits, according to a new report into biofuels by the United Nations.

Tate & Lyle is in advanced discussions with sweeteners firm Syral, a subsidiary of French sugar giant Tereos Group, to sell part of its European starch business. The £200M to £220M deal would cover sites in the UK, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy but would exclude facilities in the Netherlands, Morocco and Eastern Europe.

Orafti is conducting another human study exploring the impact of oligofructose on satiety in a bid to amass conclusive evidence of its efficacy before applying to make a health claim about it under the Nutrition

Large swathes of the dietary supplements market will be killed off unless regulators agree to consider traditional knowledge when assessing health claims for botanicals under the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, the European Botanical Forum has warned.

Significant reductions in acrylamide - a known carcinogen - in baked, roasted and fried foods will be achieved only through advanced crop- breeding techniques, not changes to the manufacturing process or to sulphur levels in soil, scientists have claimed.

Unilever could struggle to find a European market for its controversial ice-structuring protein (ISP) if regulators force it to tell consumers that the ingredient has been manufactured using genetically modified (GM) yeast, experts have warned.

Lipid Nutrition will make a Novel Food application for CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) this year after months of wrangling with the European Commission over its regulatory status.

DSM will employ more than 100 research and development (R&D) staff at its 'China Campus' in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai by the end of next year as part of its mission to break through the $1bn sales barrier in China by 2010.

BASF Plant Science is less than a decade away from producing commercial quantities of omega-3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) from rapeseed.

Texturising is no longer just a question of improving the sensorial qualities of foods, their ease of manufacture or shelf-life. These factors remain high on the manufacturing agenda, and rightly so, because they are drivers of profitability and consumer taste appeal.

European consumers have an insatiable appetite for dietary supplements despite widespread debate about the benefits - if any - of taking vitamin and mineral supplements, and they are supporting the €4.4bn Western EU market with renewed gusto.

Replacing fats in processed foods isn't easy. The presence of some fat appears to be essential for taste and texture. But fat-based fat replacements, such as Olestra, are not seen as the answer because of their laxative effect and Europe's ingredient suppliers have been left to rely on fat-mimicking carbohydrate- or protein-based replacements. But these don't always deliver either the taste or the texture that consumers want.

Antioxidants are currently under scrutiny as a panacea for health, vitality and anti-ageing: but the generalised ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) approach to them is being superseded by an interest in compounds with specific physiological effects.

Fats and oils (lipids) perform many functions in food and food processing and are essential components in many of the foods we need and enjoy. Their functions include: frying and baking, moisture retention, flavour delivery, lubrication and coating, visual appearance, nutrition (they contain oil-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids), construction of emulsions and foams, aeration of foods, processing aids and satiety.

Flying by the seat of your pants is something sales people are pretty adept at, admits Orafti's new joint md Dominique Speleers, but it's no way to run a business."For two years now, I've forced myself to build preparation time for things into my diary," he says. "If you don't do this, you end up fire fighting all the time instead of setting your own agenda. Preparation is crucial. It's the difference between being reactive and being able to think strategically about how you want to move forward."

Since January 2006, when the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) requirement for labelling the trans fats content of food products came into force, there has been a remarkable transformation in the edible oil consumption of Americans. Once it became legally necessary to label for them, food companies did not want to include trans fats on their labels, and so most have opted to eliminate or at least drastically reduce the trans fat content of their products.

Skeletal heath is nothing much to worry about, the odd broken bone, it takes care of itself. But when bones shatter after gentle impacts, something's wrong.

Finland, famous for saunas, Sibelius and the world's most successful mobile phone company, gained a less enviable label in the late 20th century: as the CVD (cardiovascular disease) capital of the world and the reason, in part, lay in the soil.

It is no secret that the European food industry is trailing behind its rivals in terms of research and development (R&D) spend. Figures released by the Confederation of Food and Drink Industries of the EU (CIAA) show that in 2004 European R&D spend, expressed as a proportion of industry turnover, was 0.24%. This compares to 0.35% in the US, 0.40% in Australia, and a whopping 1.21% in Japan, which is famous for its forward-thinking. But, while the pressure is on to keep up with competition, question marks hanging over the credibility of industry-sponsored research could prove to be the food sector's biggest setback.

There's nothing new in using biofuels to power internal combustion engines. As long ago as 1925, Henry Ford predicted "ethyl alcohol [ethanol] is the fuel of the future. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented". Even earlier, in 1892, Rudolf Diesel ran his first eponymous engine on peanut oil ? and some 20 years later said: "the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become as important as petroleum and the coal-tar products of the present time."

The essential criteria for good legislation, that it must be clear and easy to understand, and uniformly interpreted and enforced, are ignored at our peril. However, in the drafting of legislation or the assessment of existing structures, the golden rule of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' is often forgotten.

By using amino acids in combination with high intensity sweeteners, their bitter taste can be masked, according to new research from Ajinomoto.

Cargill has launched new omega-3 ingredients that can be incorporated into a wide range of foods without discernible changes in flavour or shelf-life.

DSM has developed BakeZyme WholeGain, an enzyme to help manufacturers of wholegrain bread overcome problems associated with high fibre baking, such as reduced volume and unappealing crumb. The enzyme increased dough tolerance and enhanced volume, texture and taste, said DSM.

Waitaki Biosciences has launched Coll2: a combination of type II collagen and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) claimed to assist in the restoration of connective tissues in inflammatory or degenerative disease such as osteoarthritis.

Folic acid supplementation can boost cognitive function and slow down age-related hearing loss, according to recent studies conducted by Nestlé.

Middle-aged subjects taking a daily supplement of DHA omega-3 (docosahexaenoic acid) from algal DHA supplier Martek Biosciences, showed decreases in diastolic blood pressure, according to research conducted at King's College, London

A new study conducted by Bordeaux Univeristy has shed further light on the fat-burning mechanism behind green coffee extract Svetol - a weight management ingredient from Berkem.

Health claims about the ability of probiotics to reduce the risk of cancer are very unlikely to gain regulatory approval, delegates at the Vitafoods International conference were told.

Danisco has launched Dimodan NH: a new emulsifier for the European market designed to help manufacturers provide products free of hydrogenated oils and fats.

Kemin Health Europe has announced the European launch of its hunger-busting ingredient Slendesta. The product, available in the US under the Satise brand, is the latest weight-management product to be put on the market amid claims it stimulates the hormones that regulate appetite. A potato extract containing proteinase inhibitor II (PI2), a protein naturally found in white potatoes, Slendesta stimulates the release of the appetite regulating hormone CCK, claimed the company.

Chr Hansen is the first to market with oral probiotic capsules designed to help restore and maintain healthy vaginal flora.

Two stress-beating ingredients have been launched to tap into the burgeoning 'mood food' market.

Functional foods will account for just 1% of the European food market by value by 2010, despite an explosion of interest in the sector, according to Leatherhead Food International (LFI).

GM can be good

The study of nutrient-gene interactions has been christened 'nutrigenomics'. Its application is to understand the molecular mechanisms of how nutrients influence biological processes. Although the influence of diet has been recognised as an important constituent in the development of human health and disease, recent evidence has highlighted the cause and effect relationships in vivo.

Israeli firm Gadot has set up a joint venture with Jiangsu Nuobei Biochemical to build a new $30M citric acid plant in China.

Western Europe's functional soft drinks market grew by 6% in 2006 to 4.45bn litres, up 40% on the category's 3.17bn litres in 2001, according to drinks consultancy Zenith International.

Flavours firm Synergy has opened a new technical centre in Thailand to serve local markets and provide hands-on support to local customers in the region.

The environmental and social damage caused by biofuels could outweigh their benefits, according to a new report into biofuels by the United Nations.

Tate & Lyle is in advanced discussions with sweeteners firm Syral, a subsidiary of French sugar giant Tereos Group, to sell part of its European starch business. The £200M to £220M deal would cover sites in the UK, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy but would exclude facilities in the Netherlands, Morocco and Eastern Europe.

Orafti is conducting another human study exploring the impact of oligofructose on satiety in a bid to amass conclusive evidence of its efficacy before applying to make a health claim about it under the Nutrition

The potato could emerge as a serious player in the nutritional ingredients market and as a "far more sustainable" source of protein than many of its rivals, according to researchers gathered in Amsterdam for a seminar on the merits of vegetable vs animal protein.

Large swathes of the dietary supplements market will be killed off unless regulators agree to consider traditional knowledge when assessing health claims for botanicals under the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, the European Botanical Forum has warned.

Significant reductions in acrylamide - a known carcinogen - in baked, roasted and fried foods will be achieved only through advanced crop- breeding techniques, not changes to the manufacturing process or to sulphur levels in soil, scientists have claimed.

The food industry should not raise expectations about the potential of nutrigenomics to improve public health before scientists have proved it can really deliver, the body co-ordinating research into the relationship between diet and gene expression has warned.

Food manufacturers that fail to embrace the principles of 'open innovation' by collaborating with external partners will be left behind in the new product development (NPD) stakes, Unilever has warned.

The first consignments of certified sustainable palm oil should hit Europe by the end of this year, according to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Unilever could struggle to find a European market for its controversial ice-structuring protein (ISP) if regulators force it to tell consumers that the ingredient has been manufactured using genetically modified (GM) yeast, experts have warned.

Lipid Nutrition will make a Novel Food application for CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) this year after months of wrangling with the European Commission over its regulatory status.

DSM will employ more than 100 research and development (R&D) staff at its 'China Campus' in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai by the end of next year as part of its mission to break through the $1bn sales barrier in China by 2010.

BASF Plant Science is less than a decade away from producing commercial quantities of omega-3 DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) from rapeseed.